Retail sales of state-licensed weed in Washington topped $12 million by Sept. 8 … and sales keep climbing. The improvement of sales in recreational marijuana here mirrors the steep growth in sales in Colorado, where the recreational market out-sold medical for the first time in July (the latest numbers from that state). The Cannabist reports: “In July 2014, customers purchased more than $29.7 million in recreational marijuana — up from $24.7 million in June. Medical marijuana patients spent more than $28.9 million on marijuana in July — comparable to June’s $28.6 million in sales.” In Washington, there are now 55...

Despite President Obama’s assurances to the contrary, millions of Americans are discovering that they will not be able to keep their current health insurance when the Affordable Care Act takes full effect next year. Reports Tuesday from CBS and NBC News document this development. According to CBS, US insurance firms have sent health policy cancellation notices to more than 2 million people, with 800,000 in New Jersey alone. NBC estimates that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million Americans .. can expect a cancellation letter, .. Mr. Obama has long insisted .. Americans who like their current health plan...

Before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, President Obama promised Americans they could keep their healthcare plan if they liked it. But already hundreds of thousands of citizens are receiving notification that their plans are being cancelled because they don't comply with the new law, and, according to NBC News, the Obama administration has known for at least three years the cancellations were coming. While campaigning for health care reform in 2009, Obama went out of his way to make one thing perfectly clear: if you like your current health care plan, you will be able to keep...

Yehuda Doron, the former treasurer of Kibbutz Shefayim, and his wife, Katrina, were convicted Sunday of stealing about 16.5 million shekels from the kibbutz, and of a number of serious financial offenses, which were carried out between 1996 and 2002. Yehuda Doron was born in Shefayim and lived there his whole life, until he and his family were forced to leave when the embezzlement was discovered. He served in several important positions over the years, mostly in the kibbutz's financial department. According to the verdict, he enjoyed unlimited trust from the kibbutz members who believed in his ability to steer...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today. The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare. According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify...

Just because they're already behind bars doesn't mean they aren't making out like bandits. Prisoner tax fraud has ballooned in recent years. In 2010, more than 91,000 inmate returns claimed $758 million in fraudulent refunds, a new audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration finds. That's more than double the previous year. While the IRS stopped the vast majority of fraudulent refunds from actually getting into the hands of prisoners, $35 million still slipped through the cracks.

Conservatives complain Sandy bill includes millions in unrelated spendingBy Erik Wasson and Kevin Bogardus - 12/17/12 12:33 PM ET Conservative groups say the Senate’s $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy supplemental bill is loaded with millions of dollars in spending unrelated to damage from the devastating storm. The bill includes $2 million to fix museum roofs in Washington, D.C.; $100 million for Head Start centers; $348 million for damage to parks, including the Statue of Liberty’s island; and $4 million to repair the Kennedy Space Center and other launch sites. It also includes funding for commercial fisheries disasters for as far away...

*snip* Mrs. Pritzker has bundled at least $904,957 for Mr. Obama. A former board member of the Marmon Group, the Pritzker family owns as much as 40% of Marmon while Berkshire Hathaway owns the rest. Marmon and Berkshire own IMPulse, a transit-manufacturing firm, located in Mount Olive, North Carolina. IMPulse received or directed numerous construction projects that received millions in taxpayer-funded stimulus money. Among others, those projects include: A $485.8 million contract that was awarded for the extension of the Metro Gold Line from Pasadena to Azusa A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) infrastructure project worth $67 million in...

'Green' Jobs Estimates Cost Taxpayers MillionsFeds spend $8 million, states $48 million on repetitive surveys By Don Carrington Feb. 27th, 2012 RALEIGH — Sometime in March, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its first report estimating the number of “green” or “clean” jobs in the nation. The $8 million BLS project follows $48 million worth of stimulus grants that the Labor Department had made to individual states to produce their own green job definitions and estimates. North Carolina received $946,000 from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for its study. While most states released...

Colleges pay presidents millions while raising tuitionBy Blake Ellis @CNNMoney December 20, 2011: 5:22 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Some private colleges are paying their top executives millions of dollars, at the same time they're hiking tuition prices for students. Vanderbilt University paid its chancellor, Nicholas Zeppos, $1.9 million in 2009, according to the school's most recent tax filings -- enough for up to 43 students to attend Vanderbilt at current prices. His total pay includes a base salary of $673,002, as well as bonus and other compensation. That same year, Vanderbilt's tuition jumped 4.3%. Since then, the college...

EPA spending millions for ‘environmental justice’The Daily Caller – 38 mins ago Earlier this month the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $25,000 grant to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade for air-quality sampling, as part of an initiative which is funneling millions annually into local organizations for environmental justice. According to the EPA, environmental justice is “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has made environmental justice a priority at the agency, issuing...

(From ABC News) - Mike McCabe is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan political watchdog group that tracks campaign money, and he says the amount of money being spent is around $30 million, with $25 million of that coming from outside groups on both sides and $5 million being spent by the candidates. McCabe added the election has been “hijacked” by outside groups from both parties. “It’s wall-to-wall TV ads. There is a hell of a lot of on-the-ground work at the same time there are air wars,” McCabe said. “We don’t see statewide elections that...

In Wisconsin, six Republican state senators face recalls on Tuesday. And outside groups have sent enormous sums of money into the state in preparation. Local races rarely receive this much attention or this much out-of-state funding, but both liberal and conservative advocacy groups have decided there’s enough at stake to prompt a tidal wave of outside support. ABC News reports that non-Wisconsin organizations have poured $25 million into the races so far. That figure came from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which estimates that candidates

Brussels is pouring nearly £20million a year from its human rights budget on lecturing the Americans on left-wing causes. The EU Human Rights Fund is intended to help promote Western values in the developing world. But a shock report has found at least £17million of cash – around £2million from British taxpayers’ – has been ploughed into promoting the pet causes of Eurocrats in the U.S. It is being spent on promoting abolition of the death penalty, discussion of climate change, green energy, and the International Criminal Court – all controversial subjects in the U.S. The study by the Heritage...

Led by union workers from across Texas, thousands of chanting marchers converged on the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the recently passed House budget's deep spending cuts to education, health care and state jobs. "We are all in this together," Judy Lugo, president of the Texas State Employees Union, told the raucous, cheering crowd on the south steps of the Capitol. "Every Texan, now and for years to come, will suffer the consequences if the Texas Legislature does not change course." Shortly before the rally, conservative and tea party activists held a news conference on the other side of the...

Arizona has attracted more than $3.6 million of donations to help defend its law to crack down on illegal immigration, with one whopping contribution—and thousands of smaller ones—from out of state. Timothy Mellon, an heir to a Pittsburgh steel and banking dynasty, has donated $1.5 million to a legal-defense fund established by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, according to the governor's office. Mr. Mellon, who is identified on a donor list as a Wyoming resident, is among more than 42,000 people who have contributed to the border state's legal battle for the right to enforce the law, which Arizona's legislature

2:19pm UK, Wednesday September 22, 2010 Robert Nisbet, US correspondent Nick Clegg has defended the government's commitment to pouring millions into international aid, while cutting budgets and services back home. The deputy Prime Minister is in New York attending a three-day summit at the United Nations to assess whether the Millennium Development Goals are still on target. Leaders from 192 countries set eight ambitious goals, including eradicating hunger and poverty, reducing child mortality rates and promoting gender equality. They also agreed goals on maternal health and creating a global partnership for development by 2015. Mr Clegg will confirm in a...

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) says Muslim countries, organizations and individuals have pledged nearly $1 billion in response to the Pakistan flood emergency, and Pakistan’s prime minister says Saudi Arabia has overtaken the U.S. in responding to the crisis. But figures made available by the United Nations call both claims into question. With the exception of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, none of the OIC’s 56 member states have contributed – or pledged – donations reaching the double-digit millions. Fifteen OIC member governments have together given or pledged a total of $157.2 million... Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s...

As US President Barack Hussein Obama continues on his seemingly endless quest to appease Muslims, with instructions to NASA to ‘find a way’ to reach them, Iftar dinners at the White House and the US State Dept.’s sponsorship of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s forthcoming ’speaking tour’ of Muslim countries (without knowledge of what exactly he’ll be talking about); it emerges that that his administration is also planning to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on the restoration of dozens of Muslim sites around the world... Throughout his administration, Obama has been fervent in his support of Islam and...

The last redoubt of concern for the common man is ridiculously awash in the cash that keeps eluding the object of its affections but then, maybe that’s where it comes from. The Almanac of Higher Education shows us that colleges and universities took in about a trillion dollars this year and spent roughly that amount. Most of these institutions have multi-million dollar endowments, even some community colleges. Most parents do not. Professors make about $100,000 a year with tenure while the untenured lecturers and associates range between $45-80,000 a year. Ironically, this is where most share-the- wealth schemes originate. The...

This Would Be a Waste Even If It Cost Nothing July 14, 2010 By George Leef I read on the front page of the new (July 16) issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, in an article entitled “Obama Begins Rebuilding Academic Ties to Indonesia,” that “at the recent G-20 summit meeting . . . Mr. Obama announced that the United States would spend $165 million over the next five years on programs to help strengthen higher education in Indonesia through educational exchanges and university partnerships. The two countries will also hold a higher education summit next summer.” OK —...

SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) - Maryland will join Pennsylvania as the second state to use federal tax dollars to pay for abortions under the new health care law signed by President Barack Obama in March, according to information released by Maryland’s State Health Insurance Plan. Maryland will receive $85 million in federal funds for its federally mandated high-risk insurance pool, which will cover abortions. As CNSNews.com reported on July 14, Pennsylvania will receive $160 million in federal funds for its high-risk insurance pool, which will also cover abortions."

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-national-hivaids-strategy Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release July 13, 2010 Remarks by the President on the National HIV/AIDS Strategy East Room 6:10 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Hello! (Applause.) Hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Well, good evening, everybody. This is a pretty feisty group here. (Laughter.) AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, President! THE PRESIDENT: Love you back. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Well, it is a privilege to speak with all of you. Welcome to the White House. Let...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-press-secretary-israel-s-announcement-gaza Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 20, 2010 Statement by the Press Secretary on Israel’s announcement on Gaza The President has described the situation in Gaza as unsustainable and has made clear that it demands fundamental change. On June 9, he announced that the United States was moving forward with $400 million in initiatives and commitments for the West Bank and Gaza. The President described these projects as a down payment on the U.S. commitment to the people...

Six people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a high-end burglary ring that targeted upscale homes throughout South Florida, stealing expensive watches and jewelry that totaled more than $2 million. Authorities have dubbed them the "Dinner Set Crew" because of the similarity of the burglaries to those committed by the infamous Dinner Set Gang in the 1960s, which struck during the dinner hour, when couples were out and their homes typically unoccupied.

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Justice Department gave a group called the New York Agency for Community Affairs a grant of $135,130 in fiscal year 2005 to “provide youth leadership training to students at select New York City schools, form ‘ACORN Youth Union’ chapters, and coordinate student campaigns to address issues such as school funding, neighborhood safety, and school governance,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released this week. The GAO report says that in fiscal years 2005 through 2009 the federal government gave ACORN and what the GAO calls “potentially related organizations” more than $40 million in federal funds. According...

(CNSNews.com) - In his first-ever address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said he was going to “inform” the chairman of BP that he must surrender the company’s money to an independent party that will distribute it to people and businesses determined to have been harmed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The president’s declaration raises a serious constitutional question about his authority: Where does the president get the lawful power to order any private-sector company—BP or any other—that it must surrender its money? Should not courts and normal legal proceedings determine who is responsible, who has...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-unexpected-urgent-refugee-and-migration-needs-related-somal Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Presidential Memoranda The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 09, 2010 Presidential Memorandum--Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Somalia and Food Pipeline Breaks for Refugee and Other Displaced Populations of Concern Globally Presidential Determination -- June 8, 2010 No. 2010-10 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related to Somalia and Food Pipeline Breaks for Refugee and Other Displaced Populations of Concern Globally By the authority vested in me by the...

NOTE The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-abbas-palestinian-authority-after-meeting Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 09, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority after Meeting Oval Office 11:58 A.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello, everybody. Be careful, careful. Before I begin, I know that there was just a vote in the United Nations Security Council. I'm going to comment on that separately. I don't want to detract from the topic at hand here. So for reporters who are interested in that issue, I...

What exactly is the job of the president of the United States? Let's ask the man who currently holds that position, Barack Obama: "My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about: the spill." Obama's job description is fascinating. He has been depicted as a proponent of "activist government," but this may be a bum rap. Now he tells us he thinks that if he somehow gets people to think about him...

...The grant-receiving states would be required to mandate that all health care providers in the state determine the Body Mass Index of all their patients in the 2-to-18 age bracket and then report that information to the state government. The state government, in turn, would be required to report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis....

The CBO issued a new report Thursday estimating that nearly four million Americans--most of them Middle Class--will face about $1,000 each in fines by 2016 for failing to purchase Democrat-approved health insurance.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate promise to cut the deficit by almost two-thirds over the next five years, but their budget plan could threaten about 30 million people with tax increases averaging $3,700 in 2012 and after because of the alternative minimum tax. The alternative is tax increases elsewhere in the revenue code averaging up to $100 billion a year after 2011 to continue alternative minimum tax relief and also curb taxes on people inheriting large estates.

Chicago's effort to expand O'Hare International Airport got another helping hand from the federal government Tuesday in the form of $410 million for three runways. Add the $337 million transportation officials promised in 2005, and the $747 million in federal cash set aside for O'Hare is the largest financial commitment ever made to a single airport project, transportation officials said. "It's an enormous amount of money, but it really is the kind of investment that has to be made at O'Hare in order to continue it to be the premiere international airport that it is," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/02/fight-stop-violence-against-women-continues Home • The White House Blog The Fight to Stop Violence Against Women Continues Posted by Lynn Rosenthal on April 02, 2010 at 05:08 PM EDT This week, the Vice President took his commitment to ending violence against women to Peoria, Illinois where he spoke at the Center for the Prevention of Abuse’s Partners in Peace awards. The 1100 member audience was mesmerized by the Vice President’s story about his early efforts to pass the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The first VAWA hearing was held on June 20, 1990, and over...

Note: The following text is a quote: Officials Consider Role in Haiti Beyond Immediate Relief By John J. Kruzel American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2010 – The U.S. government still is figuring out the details of American assistance in Haiti, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said here today, noting that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and President Barack Obama discussed the issue yesterday. “I think that everybody would say by now that the aid is flowing in a very productive and helpful fashion,” Morrell told Pentagon reporters. “But the question now becomes, now that this immediate relief has...

Note: The following text (minus the graph) is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-high-speed-intercity-passenger-rail-program-cleveland-columbus Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release January 27, 2010 Fact Sheet: High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program: Cleveland - Columbus - Dayton - Cincinnati Awardees: Ohio Department of Transportation Total Approximate Funding (entire corridor): $400,000,000 Benefiting State: Ohio Miles of Track: New - 250 miles This new corridor connects four major metropolitan areas in Ohio: Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati. This significant route, named the “3C Corridor,” has a length of 250 miles and will serve...

"Obama to Announce $8 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan After State of the Union Speech" Wednesday, January 27, 2010 By Julie Pace, Associated Press SNIPPET: "Washington (AP) - A day after delivering a State of the Union address aimed at showing recession-weary Americans he understands their struggles, President Barack Obama intends to award $8 billion in stimulus funds to develop high-speed rail corridors and sell the program as a jobs creator. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to announce grants for 13 major corridors during a town hall meeting in Tampa, Fla., Thursday..."

For several years as uneducated sycophants in the media gushed and fawned over every utterance from former Vice President Al Gore, NewsBusters has informed readers of just how absurd the junk science he's peddling really is. Last Thursday, NBC "Tonight Show" viewers got a perfect example of how the Nobel Laureate basically makes things up, and that his poor grades in college were quite an indicator of just how little he understands about science.

Note: The following text is a quote: News Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, October 23, 2009 HHS Awards $17 Million in a New National Initiative to Fight Health Care-Associated Infections HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the award of $17 million to fund projects to fight costly and dangerous health care-associated infections, or HAIs. “When patients go to the hospital, they expect to get better, not worse,” Secretary Sebelius said. “Eliminating infections is critical to making care safer for patients and to improving the overall quality and safety of the health care system. We know that it can be done,...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 White House Announces Global Technology and Innovation Fund During his speech in Cairo on June 4, the President announced that the United States would "launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries." As the latest step in delivering on this commitment, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced this week a call for proposals for a Global Technology and Innovation Fund. This fund will help catalyze and facilitate private sector investments that promote...

Few things cause the eye to glaze over more than economic statistics, particularly when discussing all but incomprehensible sums in the billions and trillions of dollars. There are two statistics which the public should be aware of more than others; they are 1) Gross Domestic Product (total economic output of the country); and 2) The Net Gross Domestic Product per Person (The GDP less the amount of government spending at all levels divided by the total population). The Net GDP per person recognizes the impact of federal, state and local spending on the economy. Ideally the net amount each citizen...

Rare Artwork by Mount Rushmore Creator For years, it sat as a paperweight in the home of Jeane Funkhouser. In fact, her daughter, Charlene Mitchell, remembers having to dust under it the entire time she was growing up. It turns out she was dusting under what may be worth millions of dollars. For several decades, the Victoria family has been in possession of an extremely rare Steuben Glass George Washington head created by artist Gutzon Borglum, the man behind the Mount Rushmore sculpture. Funkhouser, also an artist, was given the model as a gift from Borglum's son, Lincoln Borglum, in...

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer. The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries

Swine flu 'could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m' UN report says pandemic may result in anarchy unless western world pays for antiviral drugs and vaccines Sunday 20 September 2009 The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked to the Observer. The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing countries. If the virus takes hold in the...